Train your eye and your fingers to employ a series of techniques that help you quickly find what you need to know about web pages;
Train your mind to think critically, even suspiciously, by asking a series of questions that will help you decide how much a web page is to be trusted.
1. What can the URL tell you?
Techniquesfor Web Evaluation:1. Before you leave the list of search results -- before you click and get interested in anything written on the page -- glean all you can from the URLs of each page. 2. Then choose pages most likely to be reliable and authentic. 3. Look for indicators of quality information: Techniquesfor Web Evaluation:1. Look for a link called "links," "additional sites," "related links," etc. 2. In the text, if you see little footnote numbers or links that might refer to documentation, take the time to explore them. What kinds of publications or sites are they? Reputable? Scholarly? Are they real? On the web (where no publisher is editing most pages), it is possible to create totally fake references. 3. Look at the publisher of the page (first part of the URL). Expect a journal article, newspaper article, and some other publications that are recent to come from the original publisher IF the publication is available on the web. Look at the bottom of such articles for copyright information or permissions to reproduce. 4. What do others say?
Techniquesfor Web Evaluation:1. Find out what other web pages link to this page. a. Use alexa.com: Type or paste the URL into alexa.com's search box.Click on the "Get details" button.You will see, depending on the volume of traffic to the page:
Traffic details.
Contact/ownership info for the domain name.
"Related links" to other sites visited by people who visited the page.
Sites linking in to the page.
A link to the "Wayback Machine," an archive showing what the page looked like in the past.
b. Do a link: search in Google, Yahoo!, or another search engine where this can be done: 1. Copy the URL of the page you are investigating (Ctrl+C in Windows). 2. Go to the search engine site, and type link: in the search box. 3. Paste the URL into the search box immediately following link: (no space after the colon).The pages listed all contain one or more links to the page you are looking for. If you find no links, try a shorter portion of the URL, stopping after each /. Note: Different search engines give very different results for "link:" searches. We suggest trying more than one.2. Look up the title or publisher of the page in a reputable directory that evaluates its contents (ipl2, Infomine, About.com, or a specialized directory you trust).
3. Look up the author's name in Google or Yahoo!For the most complete results in Google, search the name three ways: a. without quotes: Firstname Lastname b. enclosed in quotes as a phrase: "Firstname Lastname"c. enclosed in quotes with * between the first and last name: "Firstname * Lastname" (The * can stand for any middle initial or name in Google only). 5. Does it all add up? Techniquesfor Web Evaluation:1. Step back and think about all you have learned about the page. Listen to your gut reaction. Think about why the page was created, the intentions of its author(s). If you have doubts, ask your instructor or come to one of the library reference desks and ask for advice. 2. Be sensitive to the possibility that you are the victim of irony, spoof, fraud, or other falsehood. 3. Ask yourself if the web is truly the best place to find resources for the research you are doing.
- Train your eye and your fingers to employ a series of techniques that help you quickly find what you need to know about web pages;
- Train your mind to think critically, even suspiciously, by asking a series of questions that will help you decide how much a web page is to be trusted.
- 1. What can the URL tell you?
Techniques for Web Evaluation :1. Before you leave the list of search results -- before you click and get interested in anything written on the page -- glean all you can from the URLs of each page. 2. Then choose pages most likely to be reliable and authentic.3. Look for indicators of quality information:
Techniques for Web Evaluation :1. Look for a link called "links," "additional sites," "related links," etc. 2. In the text, if you see little footnote numbers or links that might refer to documentation, take the time to explore them. What kinds of publications or sites are they? Reputable? Scholarly? Are they real? On the web (where no publisher is editing most pages), it is possible to create totally fake references. 3. Look at the publisher of the page (first part of the URL). Expect a journal article, newspaper article, and some other publications that are recent to come from the original publisher IF the publication is available on the web. Look at the bottom of such articles for copyright information or permissions to reproduce.
4. What do others say?
Techniques for Web Evaluation :1. Find out what other web pages link to this page. a. Use alexa.com: Type or paste the URL into alexa.com's search box.Click on the "Get details" button.You will see, depending on the volume of traffic to the page:
- Traffic details.
- Contact/ownership info for the domain name.
- "Related links" to other sites visited by people who visited the page.
- Sites linking in to the page.
- A link to the "Wayback Machine," an archive showing what the page looked like in the past.
b. Do a link: search in Google, Yahoo!, or another search engine where this can be done: 1. Copy the URL of the page you are investigating (Ctrl+C in Windows). 2. Go to the search engine site, and type link: in the search box. 3. Paste the URL into the search box immediately following link: (no space after the colon).The pages listed all contain one or more links to the page you are looking for. If you find no links, try a shorter portion of the URL, stopping after each /.Note: Different search engines give very different results for "link:" searches. We suggest trying more than one. 2. Look up the title or publisher of the page in a reputable directory that evaluates its contents (ipl2, Infomine, About.com, or a specialized directory you trust).
3. Look up the author's name in Google or Yahoo!For the most complete results in Google, search the name three ways: a. without quotes: Firstname Lastname b. enclosed in quotes as a phrase: "Firstname Lastname" c. enclosed in quotes with * between the first and last name: "Firstname * Lastname" (The * can stand for any middle initial or name in Google only).
5. Does it all add up?
Techniques for Web Evaluation :1. Step back and think about all you have learned about the page. Listen to your gut reaction. Think about why the page was created, the intentions of its author(s). If you have doubts, ask your instructor or come to one of the library reference desks and ask for advice. 2. Be sensitive to the possibility that you are the victim of irony, spoof, fraud, or other falsehood. 3. Ask yourself if the web is truly the best place to find resources for the research you are doing.